In Search of My Father 2017 Writing Project

In Search of My Father, 2017 writing project supported by The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. January 2018, this potential book project is in development.

Monday, 22 May 2017

SHAKING HANDS - A PLAY

Shaking Hands

By Joe Cushnan

This play was written as a 45-minute radio drama. It is fiction,
based on several facts from the author's life. A 60-year-old son tracks down
his 89-year-old father to question him on why he left the family home, a wife
and seven children. In the quest to find out about the 'missing years', the son
finds it hard to suppress simmering anger and the father clings to hope of
reconciliation. The script is adaptable for the stage and would be useful for
student actors to practice their skills.

Any drama group interested in
considering the play, please contact: joecushnan@aol.com

Northern Irish drama groups would be
ideal but I think the script has wide appeal.

I am not looking for any fee or other financial return from amateur
groups.

ISBN: 9781786101631

A BBC correspondent said this:

“Thank you so much for sending ‘Shaking Hands’, it’s a very thoughtful,
emotional and intelligent script which I very much enjoyed reading. I
thought your treatment of the relationship between father and son was very
interesting and viscerally drawn - you really could feel the anger and
frustration and hopes and vulnerabilities of the characters as they negotiated
the stages of the meeting. Although I was secretly hoping for a happy
ending, I also very much admired how you left the piece, with no resolution
possible given the past, but perhaps some understanding for the
characters. Unfortunately however, we have recently had a piece commissioned,
which tackles the story of a daughter tackling her father about the secrets of
his past, and although the two pieces are of course very different, we just
felt that the subject matter was too similar at the moment and that Radio 4
would be unlikely to be looking for another piece in the same territory.”

Another
BBC correspondent said this:

"I really enjoyed your play and thought it was a very moving
story. I was engaged throughout and very curious to find out how it would end.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid we have recently completed our current commissioning
round for productions scheduled into 2019. Therefore, sadly, we won't be able
to offer to help develop this script further at present."